The Sales Essays Volume #2

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Here is a tale of how to not lose your lunch and your profits.

The Tomatoes Ate Your Profits

Late last year I was in Calgary  touring some of our operations  where I met a potential new sales representative. An arrangement was made to meet at the local eatery and have a “get to know you meeting”. The meeting was going as planned right up and including to ordering lunch. Then crash,that’s when the wheels fell right off the proverbial bus.

The server came over and took our lunch orders, I ordered a cheese burger and I clearly specified to the server that I did not want any tomatoes on my cheese burger.In fact, I went so far as to have the server repeat my order back to me and to have her specifically confirm “no tomato’s” (Now I do in fact eat tomato’s, but I am a bit moody about them.When, where and in what form they are in are all items I take into account with tomato’s and rarely will they and my cheese burgers ever meet, but I have digressed, so back to the story).

10 minutes later and what did I have at my table? Well of course, I have my cheese burger and the tomatoes I had clearly asked and confirmed would not be on the cheese burger. I admit I was rather miffed, but it was not the end of the world, I simply removed the offending tomatoes ate my lunch and finished my meeting.

Well you say Gerry, come on, it’s not the end of the world its “just a tomato”. Remove the tomato and keep going, it’s not worth a second thought.

Well if it were only that simple there would be no issue, no life lesson and no business improvement opportunity. But there is a real issue, a serious life lesson and a specific and highly valuable business improvement opportunity.

Let me give you a little background on this supposedly “simple thing”.

One of my daughters has specific food allergies and if she comes into contact with these food items she can have very serious allergic reactions, up to and including dying. Everywhere she goes, she carries an  epi-pen and if she comes into contact with an offending food and develops an allergic reaction she has to ram the needle into her thigh and then get herself to the closest emergency room for further treatment. I have seen this happen first-hand right in front of my eyes and it is as scary as it gets in the life of a parent. Later you are then sitting around thinking about what just happened, and that a peanut or the touch of a tomato could have killed your daughter and what life would be like.

My daughter is in touch with all of this and is always making a point of not eating things that she knows are “risk” items for her. Likewise she asks restaurant servers to confirm recipe contents and at times orders specific menu items to be brought to her without certain ingredients to ensure that “risk” items are removed.  If the information she is provided with is incorrect or if the order she has placed is not followed correctly, the results for her could literally be fatal.  What’s worse is that this is the case for hundreds of thousands of people and their families.

The business lessons related to this on the surface appears simple:

  1. Know your product(s)
  2. Listen to your customers
  3. Be able to effectively answer any and all questions related to your product(s)
  4. Supply what your customers are specifically requesting when and where they want it
  5. Understand that custom orders are always a way to secure your customers long-term business
  6. Leverage your ability to be a “unique” product(s) supplier to special needs customers and others like them

The reality however is not so simple:

  1. Most company’s sales/service staff do not really know their product(s) and only know how to deliver their product(s) in a very standardized method, driven by corporate-mandated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of which, “listen to your customer and adapt to meet their needs” has never even be conceived of let along acted on.
  2. The skill of “listening” would appear to have died long ago with things like penmanship, common courtesy, and saying things like “please” and “thank you” (soon to be another sales essay all to itself).
  3. Having and training staff in product knowledge and how to apply this knowledge is fading fast.Yet customers wanting to interact with knowledgeable and informed staff who are empowered to assist them is a consistently top rated customer request when assessing how top performing companies act and succeed in the marketplace.I would hazard a guess that the same people who would tell you they cannot afford to hire sharp staff, let alone cover the cost to train these staff, are in fact the same business owners who say that the big box store ate their lunch and stole their business.If this is you, think it over and get yourself a service/value based business plan built on real care of customer and then see how you are doing.
  4. Most companies just want to sell mass-produced items, take your money, and then get lost. They play it out every day and you feel it every day. The very thought of building the ability to customize their product(s) and related services into the front end of what they offer is lost unless the business is a micro boutique literally built around the concept.While most companies have killed true customer service and thus listening to the customer’s needs, the companies who understand this on the macro level are clearly the front-runners in the sales business. Case in point, when was the last time you tried out the customer service at Home Depot or placed a customer order and McDonalds? Both are examples of mass product distribution with a customer first and always philosophy built on listening to the customer’s needs and then meeting them.
  5. Finally let’s come to terms with the value of a custom order. Have you ever tried to make a customer order at a big box store? In almost all cases you buy what they have and that’s it. Your needs are placed second to mass volume and the lowest price point. You are a consumer with the power to spend, but only to the point where you buy what is offered, after that you need to go to a whole new type of sales enterprise and sales process.Suppliers and sellers who can supply anything by way of a customized product and/or service should do so at every opportunity and should market the ability to do so as a major selling point.  In my business we know that price comes in at  a best 5th or 6th place down the list in why a customer chooses to buy. The values that rank above price all have to do with the breadth and quality of product(s) and services offered.

Supplying a customized product, service or better yet a product/service combination that is truly based on hearing your customer, listening to your customer and then enacting these desires into your offer, is what will truly set you apart from your competition.Rarely does a customer expect a customized product(s), service or product/service package for the list price.

Given the opportunity most people place great value on being heard and having unique solutions provided to them. These people will pay premiums and become loyal customers, not simply satisfied customers.

Now think it out; what if you could supply your product(s) and services in such a way that you were price competitive and left your customer with the feeling or perception that they have been treated in a way in which they felt heard, accommodated and valued. You guessed it; the people who can engineer their business to deliver in this way to their customers are today’s big winners in a terrible economy.
Now let’s go back to the tomatoes. Lets go back in time to just two months ago. Same eatery in Calgary, same lunch plans, different date. I again order the cheese burger (yes, there is a lunch pattern here I do need to address), but from a different server and I again make sure that I get the server to repeat my order back to me and again make sure they repeat back to me that I DO NOT WANT any tomato’s on my cheese burger.

And what do get at my table 10 minutes later, you guessed it, a cheese burger with tomatoes! This time I am just not up for this so… I call the server over, I tell her that she has A) not listened to me, B) not communicated my order right to the kitchen staff, or C) not checked my order prior to delivery to insure that good quality control was practiced as she delivered a defective product to me.

I then told her if I had serious allergies and had not noticed the tomatoes she had delivered to me that I might well be in the middle of a major allergic reaction at this very time and in this very place and as I did not have an emergency syringe with me that I might have literally died at the table in front of her and she would be personally responsible for my situation up to and including my death.  I then asked her (now a fully horrified server) if she would be so kind as to get me a completely new burger and to make sure that no tomatoes even come close to my burger, which she assured me would be the case, and it was.

Now let’s review the business case:

  1. Buyer orders product from seller
  2. Seller does not really listen to customer
  3. Seller produces product not in alignment with buyer’s order
  4. Seller delivers a defective product to customer
  5. Customer rejects product offering and demands new product
  6. Seller (now really listening) retakes customers order, produces correct product and delivers the correct product to customer
  7. Customer pays seller
  8. Seller has now paid at least 200% more in service costs
  9. Seller has now paid at least 200% more in product manufacturing costs
  10. Seller has lost all opportunities for staff to have sold to other customers (cost of lost opportunity)
  11. Server gets no tip so servers personal income is reduced by over 50% on this sale
  12. Customer decides never to return to sellers location
  13. Customer tells at least 12 other people (or blogs it to 30,000 readers per month) about their experience and influences their decision about doing business with seller

This trail finishes on the 13th point. I could have made a few more but somehow is just seemed proper to finish this line of thinking on the old unlucky number 13.

Now you say “Gerry this is just a cheese burger it’s like $8.00 and it’s not that big a deal, so chill out”. Well not a chance, if the seller does this once in every 100 sales it’s a cost of doing business, but if this listening error is on the rise to say even one in 20 sales, then simple business calculations will show:

  • A rise in raw material costs with no corresponding increases in sales revenue
  • A drop in overall sales revenues as customers exit and tell others not to buy there
  • A decrease in employee earning and job satisfaction
  • An across the board drop in profitability and a loss of business viability

One day the seller wakes up and asks “where did the profits go” the answer:  The Tomatoes Ate Your Profits.

Overall this is very bad news for the seller and in this case all because the sellers service staff was not engaging with a positive customer service attitude and basic communications which if done correctly would have simply consisted of listing to the customer, hearing them and then giving them what they asked for.

Now let’s change the stakes and look at the same philosophy in action in another real life example.

This past spring I was in the market for a different vehicle. I called up an acquaintance of mine who sold (past tense) cars at a lot that specializes in late-model Japanese cars like Toyota, Nissan and Honda and after a short conversation to inform him of what I was looking for, he advised me he would go through the inventory and call me back with a few options.

Next morning he calls me up and gives me the run down, six or seven units later I am thinking that all the units he is offering me are a little too old and a little to plain, then he hits me with the real offer and I realize the first units where just to get me lined up for his real offer and what an offer it was… how about a three-year old Infinity Q35 with very low mileage for under $20,000.

Well that lunch hour we are out for a test drive and I am telling you this was one fine automobile. It had everything money could buy, all the electronic due dads you could ever dream of, a deep navy blue exterior and a gorgeous tan leather and burl wood interior.I It was simply a fantastic car at a very decent price point.

My only conclusion… something had to be very wrong with this car and/or the cars situation so I sat my friend down over lunch (cheese burgers) and we had a little talk. I told him I loved the car but something had to be wrong with the situation, was it a reposition, rebuilt, a drug dealer’s car bought off the police auction, what was the story?

Well after some further prodding the back story comes out, my friend had a customer who asked him to find her a particular car (make, model, age mileage and specific trim package) inside a specific price range. If he could find the right unit at auction and confirm it with his customer and then buy it for her, he would get a favorable commission for his services. For my friend this was an easy service to provide so he worked out the paperwork and proceeded to find the right car.  When he did he checked with his customer who he assured that the car he had found was as per the customer’s order and once confirmed the car was purchased at auction and delivery was set up with the customer.

Very soon the customer comes to the dealership takes one look at the car and tells my friend that the car is not acceptable as she had clearly outlined that the car was to have a gray leather and walnut interior.  His customer (not happy) left without the car and my friend now owned the car.

This car was well above the lots usual day trade and so he had none of his regular clientele looking at this unit. In fact this unit had been sitting around for a few months and was tying up a lot of the owner’s working capital. The car needed to go and I was his best opportunity to date.

It was the tomato episode all over again someone did not listen to the customer or thought the customer would not mind a small variation to what they had clearly outlined, the result business mayhem except we are now talking about a $20,000 listening errors and how many of those can any business afford to make? Did my friend (or the car lot owner) make any money on this deal or enhance his reputation (not a chance). The final result, I bought a new Jeep and last I heard he is  working at a different car lot.

All I can say about this is: The Tomatoes Ate Your Profits.

What are the lessons we can learn from the above and how can we apply them?

1. Sales opportunities and good customer service both require active listening

a. Developing good communications skills and using them at all times is a key element in any form of success

b. Active listening is a developed skill, learn it, apply it and keep it sharp

2. Measure twice, cut once (get it right the first time)

a. Seek to understand (Covey) first and always and make no assumptions

b. We honor the speaker when we ask intelligent questions based on their outline and we leave customers with the sense of truly being cared for

3. Customization builds a locked in customer/seller relationship, do this whenever you can and market your ability to do this

The big finish:

You listen with the goal of hearing and understanding others in all situations, in business and in life, this is a critical skill and one that will always bring the user a significant return on investment. The more you learn to listen the more your relationships will prosper and the results of this in the form of intangibles like friends, reputation and integrity and tangibles like profits, lower costs and repeat customers will abound.

When you hear someone bad mouthing the upset customer who just left them, tell them “the tomatoes ate their profits and to go tune up their listening skills and attitude”.

This article originally posted on Craneblogger.

How To Build A Customer Service Star In Two Seconds

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In the fall of 1983, around 7:00 pm, I was about to start my first class at an adult education level, a program called something like “Basic Skills for New Supervisors.” Looking around, the class was filled with all men, mostly in their early twenties, plus a few guys probably close to forty. The company I was working for agreed to pay for the class, if I volunteered my time and was pretty worked up about it. Little did I know, I was starting on the path of discovering how to build a customer service super star in two seconds.

In walked the teacher; petite, grey haired and well dressed, glasses hanging by a chain. My first thought, “she must have come into the wrong class, this course is for industrial supervision.” No, she was in the right place, but I soon thought that I was in the wrong place. She was well above qualified to teach the program and to top it all off, a psychologist. Over the weeks that followed I got schooled, literally and figuratively. I was amazed at how much I didn’t know, how much of what I thought I knew was wrong, and how the subtle application of an idea from her class could and did bring fast and positive change in the workers I was supervising.

The class also covered how to work with customers, good and bad, pleased or angry, thankful or abusive. Many tactics and techniques were discussed, but the main idea presented was this – if you do not disappoint a customer they will not be upset; therefore, by exceeding your customers’ expectations, potential problem won’t happen in the first place.

What happened next, was I assume a humorous view from our teacher point of view, as the entire class of grown men paused, staring at her with wide, dumb struck eyes and uttered a collective “what?” This was my very first exposure to strategic thinking and I think it’s safe to say it was for my classmates as well. A class wide conversation then ensued about met, unmet and exceeded customer expectations. We discussed what each one meant to the supplier/customer relationship, as well as the short, mid and long-term implications of each factor in the customer service experience.

Despite this being a hard lesson for myself and others, one key point kept coming into my mind; “how could simply doing what you said you were going to do be considered more than meeting the customers expectations?” Soon I discovered my answer. Sadly, most customers EXPECT that their needs will not be met, making this the “normal” standard of service. This means that consistency between the offer and/or promise made to a customer and actually delivering on it, is quite often enough to be considered EXCELLENT customer service.

With this in mind, I had to ask the teacher, “if this is true, then how do we know what to do to actually EXCEED the customers full expectations and become a customer service champion?” The words that left her mouth blew me away. I still remember her answer and the shock it gave me like it was yesterday.

She said and I quote, “two…”
“Two what?” I questioned back,
“Two seconds,” she promptly answered, “two seconds to do what I asked, the two seconds it would have taken you to put down the toilet seat when you were done peeing,” she said.

I was stunned, to say the least, at both the directness and truth of her answer. From there she went on to inform us that excellent customer service is not doing what is meaningful to you, but rather what is meaningful to the customer. It is about creating value for the customer, building positive experiences that include you as their supplier. No matter how small or simple an action may seem to you, doing something for your customer that they feel is above average, causes them to view you as having excellent customer service.

Yes, you can make grand gestures, which may get you some interest, but more often than not grand gestures are made when trying to make up for a wrong doing. Instead, her suggestion was that you figure out what makes your customer surprised and delighted, allowing you to consistently and repeatedly not only meet, but exceed your customers’ expectations. By doing this, you are forging a quality standard that defies competition, builds loyally, created repeat customers, and evokes positive word of mouth; important and valuable things that no size of marketing budget can buy.

Over the past 30 years I have, to the best of my ability, practiced the “two second rule.” My aim is to discover what my customers, clients, employees and even suppliers value as exceptional customer care and service, and then make sure that these things get done the first time, and remain consistent with each interaction that follows.

It has always been a buyers’ market, but thirty years later, the present business world is hard-core and ultra-demanding customers seem to be the new normal. So, take a look at a few recent case histories to see prime examples of what customer service super stars look like today.

Customer Service Super Star – Case History #1

Customer Service Super Star – Case History #2

Thanks for reading,

Gerry L. Wiebe Founder | President

The Tomatoes Ate Your Profits

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Here is a tale of how to not lose your lunch and your profits.

I was in Calgary touring some operations when I had the chance to meet a potential new sales representative. An arrangement was made to meet at the local eatery and have a “get to know you” meeting. The meeting was going as planned right up and including to ordering lunch.

The server came over and took our lunch orders, while ordering I clearly specified to the server that I did not want any tomatoes on my cheeseburger. In fact, I went so far as to have the server repeat my order back to me, specifically confirming “no tomatoes.” Now, I do in fact eat tomatoes, but I am a bit moody about them. When, where, and in what form they are in, are all things I take into account; and I can assure you, it is a rarity that tomatoes have contact with my cheeseburgers. Clearly I have digressed, so back to the story…

The food arrived in a timely fashion and my anticipated cheeseburger was set down before me. But before I could sink my teeth in I saw disappointment in the form of red tomato slices. Despite clearly asking and confirming that they would not be on the cheeseburger, it was not the end of the world (although, I admit I was rather miffed.) I simply removed the unwanted tomatoes, ate my lunch, and finished my meeting.

I know, I know, it’s just a tomato, I took it off and still had a fine cheeseburger. It’s not worth a second thought…

If it were only that simple.

However, by looking at this occurrence as a non-issue, you end up overlooking a beneficial life lesson, as well as a specific and highly valuable business improvement opportunity.

Let me give you a little background on my viewpoint.

One of my daughters has specific food allergies and if she comes into contact with these food items she can have very serious allergic reactions, up to and including death. Everywhere she goes, she carries an  EpiPen and if she develops an allergic reaction from one of the problem foods, she is to ram the needle into her thigh and get herself to the closest emergency room. I have seen this happen first hand and as a parent, it is the scariest thing you can imagine. Once everything is okay, you may just find yourself thinking about what just happened. Contemplating the fact that a nice dinner out, or the ingestion of a tomato, could have killed your child.

Thankfully my daughter is old enough to understand and keep track of it all, making a point to not eat things that she knows are “risk” items for her. Likewise, she must ask restaurant servers to confirm ingredients in a dish and may need to order menu items without certain ingredients to ensure that “risk” items are removed. If the information she is provided with is incorrect or if the order she has placed is not followed correctly, the results for her could literally be fatal. What’s worse is that this is the case for hundreds of thousands of people and their families.

The business lessons related to this appear simple on the surface level:

1. Know your products

2. Listen to your customers

3. Be able to effectively answer any and all questions related to your products

4. Supply what your customers are specifically requesting when and where they want it

5. Understand that custom orders are always a way to secure your customers long-term business

6. Leverage your ability to be a “unique” products supplier to special request customers and others like them

However, the reality is not so simple:

1. Most company’s sales/service staff do not really know their products. They only know how to deliver their products in an accepted method, driven by corporate-mandated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in which, “listen to your customer and adapt to meet their needs” is not so much as included, let alone acted on.

2. The skill of listening would appear to have died long ago with things like penmanship, common courtesy, and saying things like “please” and “thank you” (soon to be another sales essay all to itself.)

3. Training staff on product knowledge and how to then apply this knowledge is fading fast. Yet customers wanting to interact with knowledgeable and informed staff who are empowered to assist them is a consistently top rated customer request when assessing how top performing companies act and succeed in the marketplace. I would hazard a guess that the same people who would tell you they cannot afford to hire sharp staff, let alone cover the cost to train these staff, are in fact the same business owners who say that the big box store ate their lunch and stole their business. If this is you, think it over and get yourself a service/value based business plan built on real care of customer and then see how you are doing.

4. Most companies just want to sell mass-produced items, take your money, and have you quickly go on your own way. They play out this strategy every day and you, the customer, feel it every time. The very thought of integrating customized product options and related services into the front end of what they offer is lost; unless the business is a micro boutique literally built around the concept. While most companies have killed true customer service and thus listening to the customer’s needs, the companies who understand this on the macro level are clearly the front-runners in the sales business. When was the last time you took advantage of the customer service at Home Depot, or had a “made to order” menu item from McDonalds? Both are prime examples of companies that blend mass product distribution with a customer first philosophy; their success is built on listening to the customer’s needs and then meeting them.

5. Finally let’s come to terms with the value of a custom order. Have you ever tried to make a custom order at a big box store? In almost every case, you buy what they have and that’s it. Our needs are placed second to companies moving mass volume, while offering a competitive price point. You are a consumer with the power to spend, but you can only buy what is being offered in store; anything after that and you will need to engage a whole new type of sales enterprise, which will be utilizing a very different sales process. Suppliers and sellers who can deliver customized products and/or services should do so at every opportunity; making sure to market this ability as a major selling point. In my business, we know that price comes in (at best) in 5th or 6th place down the list of why a customer chooses to buy. The values that rank above price all have to do with the breadth and quality of products and services offered.

Supplying a customized product, service, or better yet a product/service combination that is truly based on listening to your customer, hearing what they have to say, and then incorporating their requests into what you offer them. This is what will set you apart from your competition, as it is rare that a customer expects a customized product, service or product/service package for the list price.

Given the opportunity, most people place great value on being heard and having unique solutions provided to them. Instead of being satisfied customers, these people will become loyal customers, willing to pay a premium price.

Think about it, what if you could supply your products and services in such a way that you were price competitive and your customer felt that they had been heard, accommodated and valued? You guessed it, the businesses that are capable of delivering this type of customer service are the big winners in what is a less than perfect economy.

Now let’s go back to the tomatoes…

On another day with similar lunch plans, I find myself in the same eatery in Calgary. This time, being helped by a different server, I again order the cheeseburger (yes, there is a lunch pattern here I do need to address,) and again make sure that the server repeats my order back to me, including that I DO NOT WANT any tomatoes on my cheeseburger.

When my order is ready, what do I get delivered to my table? You guessed it, a cheeseburger with tomatoes! This time I am just not up for this. I call the server over and tell her that she has A) not listened to me, B) not communicated my order right to the kitchen staff, and C) not checked my order prior to delivery to insure that good quality control was practiced, as she delivered a defective product to me.

I then proceeded to scare good customer service into her; telling her that if I had a serious allergy and had not noticed the tomatoes she had delivered to me, I may well be in the middle of a major allergic reaction at this very moment, sitting at her table. I continued my example, noting that if proper measures weren’t taken a severe allergic reaction could result in someone literally dying in the restaurant, right in front of her and she would be partially responsible for the situation. I then asked her (now a fully horrified server) if she would be so kind as to get me a completely new burger and to make sure that no tomatoes even came close to it, which she assured me would be the case, which it was.

Now let’s review:

1. Buyer orders product from seller

2. Seller does not really listen to customer

3. Seller produces product not in alignment with buyer’s order

4. Seller delivers a defective product to customer

5. Customer rejects product offering and demands new product

6. Seller (now really listening) retakes customer’s order, produces correct product, and delivers the correct product to customer

7. Customer pays seller

8. Seller has now paid at least 200% more in service costs

9. Seller has now paid at least 200% more in product manufacturing costs

10. Seller has lost all opportunities for staff to have sold to other customers (cost of lost opportunity)

11. Server gets no tip, so server’s personal income is reduced by over 50% on this sale

12. Customer decides never to return to seller’s location

13. Customer tells at least 12 other people (or blogs it to 30,000 readers per month) about their experience and influences their decision about doing business with seller

This trail finishes on the 13th point and I could have made a few more, but somehow is just seemed proper to finish this line of thinking on the old unlucky number 13.

Now you may be saying “Gerry, it’s just a cheeseburger. It’s like $8.00 and it’s not that big a deal, so chill out.” Well not a chance, if the seller does this 1 time in every 100 sales it’s a cost of doing business; but if this listening error is on the rise to say even 1 in 20 sales, then simple business calculations will show:

  • A rise in raw material costs with no corresponding increases in sales revenue
  • A drop in overall sales revenues as customers exit and tell others not to buy there
  • A decrease in employee earnings and job satisfaction
  • An across the board drop in profitability and a loss of business viability

One day the seller will wake up and ask, “where did the profits go?” The answer, The Tomatoes Ate Your Profits.

Overall, this is very bad news for the seller. In this case, everything that resulted could be traced back to the seller’s service staff not engaging customers with a positive attitude. Basic communications if done correctly would have simply consisted of listing to the customer, hearing them and then giving them what they asked for.

Let me give you another real life example that demonstrates this same philosophy.

This past spring I was in the market for a different vehicle so I called up an acquaintance of mine who sold (past tense) cars at a lot that specializes in late-model Japanese cars like Toyota, Nissan and Honda. After a short conversation to inform him of what I was looking for, he advised me that he would take a look at the lot’s inventory and call me back with a few options.

The next morning he calls me up and gives me the run down. After hearing about six or seven units, I am thinking that everything he is telling me about is a little too old and a little to plain; then he hits me with the real offer. I now realize that telling me about the first units was just to get me lined up for his real offer, and what an offer it was… a three-year old Infinity Q35 with very low mileage, for under $20,000.

That very day we are out for a test drive during my lunch hour. I am telling you, this was one fine automobile, it had everything money could buy. All the electronic due dads you could ever dream of, a deep navy blue exterior and a gorgeous tan leather and burl wood interior, it was simply a fantastic car, at a very decent price point.

My only conclusion, something had to be very wrong with this car and/or the cars situation. I sat my friend down over lunch (cheeseburgers) and we had a little talk. I told him I loved the car, but something had to be wrong with the situation, was it a re-position, rebuilt, a drug dealer’s car bought from the police auction, what was the story?

Well, after some further prodding the back story came out. My friend had a customer who asked him to find her a particular car (make, model, age, mileage, and specific trim package) inside a specific price range; if he could find the right unit at auction, confirm it with his customer, and buy it for her, he would get a favorable commission for his services. For my friend this was an easy service to provide so he worked out the paperwork and proceeded to find the right car. When he checked in with his customer, he assured her that the car he had found was as per their specifications, so the car was purchased at auction and delivery was set up with the customer.

Soon after, the customer comes to the dealership, takes one look at the car and tells my friend that the car is not acceptable as she had clearly outlined that the car was to have a gray leather and walnut interior. His unsatisfied customer left without the car, meaning my friend now owned the car.

This car was well above the lot’s usual day trade, so none of his regular clientele were interested in the car. In fact, this unit had been sitting around for a few months and was tying up a lot of the owner’s working capital. The car needed to go and I was his best opportunity to date.

It was the tomato episode all over again; someone did not listen to the customer or thought the customer wouldn’t mind a small variation to what they had clearly outlined. The result, business mayhem, except we are now talking about a $20,000 listening error; how many of those can any business afford to make? Did my friend (or the car lot owner) make any money on this deal or enhance his reputation? Not a chance. The final result, I bought a new Jeep and last I heard, my acquaintance is working at a different car lot.

All I can say about this is The Tomatoes Ate Your Profits.

What are the lessons we can learn from the above and how can we apply them?

1. Sales opportunities and good customer service both require active listening

    • Developing good communications skills and using them at all times is a key element in any form of success
    • Active listening is a developed skill; learn it, apply it and keep it sharp

2. Measure twice, cut once – get it right the first time

    • Always make understanding (Covey) your first priority and make no assumptions
    • We honor the speaker when we ask intelligent questions based on their outline, which also leaves the customer with the sense of truly being cared for

3. Customization builds a locked in customer/seller relationship, do this whenever you can and market your ability to do so

The big finish:

In all situations, in business and in life, listen with the goal of hearing and understanding others. This is a critical skill and one that will always bring the user a significant return on their investment. The more you learn to listen, the more your relationships will prosper. The intangible results such as friends, reputation and integrity and the tangible results like profits, lower costs and repeat customers will all abound.

When you hear someone bad mouthing the upset customer who just left, tell them “the tomatoes ate their profits and they should go tune up their listening skills and attitude.”

Thanks for reading,

Gerry L. Wiebe, Founder | President